Posted On Monday, June 24, 2013

This past April, local comic shop and geek haven, Comic Town, graciously let me take over their shop for a few hours to host a little Q&A on self-publishing! It was a tremendous event, where I got to share my experiences as a self-publisher, and open things up to members of the audience to share their own ideas and experiences in creating comics! The sense of sharing and camaraderie was TERRIFIC!

Luckily, I had Underground Video Network on hand (Thanks Richard!) to film the whole thing, so those of you that missed it, don't have to miss out! I hope you enjoy and I look forward to doing many more events like this; learning even MORE about making comics and the many different innovations we can make in doing it!

Here's Part One:

Here's Part Two:

A BIG thanks to EVERYONE who came out, certainly to Ryan and Tim of Comic Town and last, but not least, Richard for such AWESOME video footage of the whole thing!

Posted On Thursday, June 20, 2013

Phase One Titles The Samaritan, Origins Unknown
and The Villain!

With the publishing and release of The Samaritan #7/ Collected Edition vol 2, I've considered the first phase of my self-publishing career (now dubbed after the successful Marvel Studios plan, Phase One) completed! The sum total of two years of work -- a total of 115 sequential pages, culminating in four separate titles (two of which are multi-issued); each one as diverse as the art styles they're rendered in. It has been a VERY satisfying ride and I'm quite proud of each piece for what they've been able to deliver and say about the creativity behind Vantage:Inhouse Productions! But now that they're out in the world, I've firmly set my gaze on "What's Next!" So without further ado, I want to tell you my plans of V:IP Phase Two!

Origins Unknown: Point of Authority and Somewhere I Belong
and The Trouble w/Love

There's no doubt that the books under Phase One carried a more…"grown-up" tone. I hesitate to say "adult" as there's much more of a explicit connotation to that than what was overtly shown (excluding the references from Nita from The Samaritan, of course!). I can't say that this was a purposeful plan, but rather the outcome of the stories I had chosen to write! What this did though, as almost a pointed negative, was create a wall of exclusion for young(er) readers. And I was totally complicit in that, where I rather diligently swayed them from even perusing this current roster of titles. I honestly thought that my U Cre-8 Comics line would balance things out, but quite the opposite happened! Where I was trying to push the U Cre-8 line, the heavy themes of my sequential work shied interested parties away!

So, to counter-act this strange comedy of errors(!), I'm focusing on MORE all-ages titles with Phase Two! My hope is that this will not only add to the body of what V:IP offers as a whole, but can REALLY reverse some of the standing I've picked up from educators who were turned off by the initial runs! Already, I've got a few titles in production that will (hopefully) be on shelves by the end of summer! But what are these miraculous wonders of comic booky goodness?! Well…

This pin-up is from our first book, Omnibus #1

Wonders of the Great Beyond - A family-based group of scientists/adventurers!

Pi: Mathematic Monk - After a few teases, Pi is going to continue as an on-going series!

Vantage - Our FLAGSHIP title! This superhero tale will really showcase what we love about comics!

Wonder Care - The next generation heroes is here and ready to learn!

And a few more…!

And no worries, if you're a fan of our previous titles, we'll STILL be releasing a few more books of that tone and mood! Look for Ol' Crazy and the 40oz of Death and Strongman Legion Plus!

If you HAVEN'T read our Phase One series, then you're in luck! We'll be releasing two pages a week for the next YEAR on our webcomics page -- FOR FREE!

I thank you all for your support over the last two years and I look forward to entertaining you EVEN MORE over the next few!